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An LNG tanker berths at the PetroChina Jiangsu LNG Terminal. [Photo/Jiangsu Economic News]

A milestone was reached on May 23 when the Marshall Islands-registered LNG tanker Zarga berthed at the PetroChina Jiangsu LNG Terminal at Yangkou Port in Rudong county, administered by Nantong city in East China's Jiangsu province.

It marked the 536th LNG vessel to be received by the terminal since its official start of operations on May 24, 2011.

By the end of May, the terminal had handled over 44 million metric tons of LNG, with over 62 billion cubic meters of natural gas having been exported.

As a key project in the construction of a national natural gas production, supply, storage and marketing system, the terminal has assumed the responsibility of regulating peak natural gas supplies in the Yangtze River Delta region since its establishment.

After it was completed in 2011, the terminal was expanded twice in 2016 and 2021. At present, the gasification and storage capacity of the station has reached 10 million tons per year.

During the 11 years, the terminal has established shipping ties with LNG resources in 25 countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative including Qatar, Australia and Russia.

On July 19, 2018, the first ship to arrive in China from the Yamal project – a long-term plan to exploit and bring to the markets the vast natural gas reserves in the Yamal Peninsula in Russia – was received by the PetroChina Jiangsu LNG Terminal.

The project, which is the first large energy cooperation project to be implemented in Russia after China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, is located in the Arctic Circle of Russia.

With three major energy projects now under construction – including two LNG terminals projects – Yangkou Port is striving to achieve annual taxable sales of over 100 billion yuan ($15 billion) by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25).